Courses

There may be courses in other departments (French, Spanish, German, Speech Communications, etc) which contain linguistic content but are not listed here. This list only contains courses in the linguistics program.

Undergraduate Courses

LING 001: The Study of Language
A non-technical introduction to the study of human language, and its role in human interaction. The course is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the core theoretical areas of linguistics: syntax (sentence structure) semantics (meaning), phonology (sound), and morphology (word structure. The second part of the course utilizes the insights of the first half to gain insight into the workings of language use (pragmatics), language variation (sociolinguistics), language change (historical linguistics), and first and second language acquisition (psycholinguistics).

Students who have successfully completed LING 100 may not enroll in LING 001. This course satisfies 3 credits of the social and behavioral sciences (GS) component of general education.

LING 097 / 197 / 297 / 397 / 497: Special Topics
Formal courses given infrequently to explore, in depth, a comparatively narrow subject which may be taught in one year or semester. In Linguistics, we most often offer 497 courses, topics for which have included (in recent years) Language and Culture in Africa, Anthropological Linguistics, and Phonetic Analysis.

LING 100: Foundations of Linguistics
Systematic study of linguistic structures in a variety of the world’s languages; an overview of the language, and its organization. The objective of this course is to introduce the undergraduate student to the field of linguistics – the scientific study of language. Linguists seek to uncover the subconscious principles and parameters which govern our knowledge of language. The course also explores how the insights of research in theoretical linguistics can be brought to bear on fields such as language acquisition, speech pathology, and cultural studies

LING 199 / 299 / 399 / 499: Foreign Studies
Courses offered in foreign countries by individual or group instruction. Talk with your advisor on using this course option, particularly when planning to study abroad.

LING 294 / 494: Research Project
Supervised student activities on research projects identified on an individual or small-group basis.

LING 395: Internship
Supervised off-campus, non-group instruction including field experiences, practica, or internships. Written and oral critique of activity required. Prerequisite: prior approval of proposed assignment by instructor.

LING 401: Introduction to Linguistics Theory
Introduction to phonological theory and analysis based on evidence from a variety of languages. Topics include phonological representations including features, syllables, metrical structure; phonological processes including assimilation and dissimilation; and phonological typology and universals.

LING 402: Syntax I
Grammatical constructions, primarily those of English, and their consequences for a general theory of language. Practical experience in forming and testing linguistic hypotheses and constructing rule systems for natural languages.

LING 404: Phonology I
Consideration of techniques and problems involved in description of phonological components of transformational grammars. Emphasis on general principles. Prerequisite: LING 100.

LING 405: Historical Linguistics
Looking at language from a historical and language change perspective. Studying how languages are historically related to each other, and how we can learn about history in general through what we know about ancient and modern languages.

LING 429: Language and Thought
Relations between language and cognition; cognitive implications of normal and impaired language development; cognition and bilingualism.

LING 446: First Language Acquisition
Psycholinguistic study of how children learn their first language. Processes of language acquisition in early childhood; stages in development. Practical experience in data collection.

LING 447: Bilingualism
Explores the sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic consequences of bilingualism; topics include languages in contact, interference, attrition, bilingual memory, and bilingual grammars.

LING 448: Sociolinguistics
Linguistic and social psychological bases for language choice. Accounts of language variation and related larger constructs such as speech community, communicative competence, dialect, and language change.

LING 449: Semantics I
Meaning in natural language. Topics include elementary set theory; propositional logic, predicate logic and their relation to semantic analysis; model-theoretic characterizations of meaning and semantic properties of various English constructions.

Prerequisites include LING 402.

LING 493: Field Methods
The methods by which linguists gather raw linguistic data about a language and analyze its phonological structure. Working with a speaker of a language not previously studied by class participants, including the instructor, students develop a description of its phonology, and utilize methodologies for obtaining, storing, and manipulating data.

LING 496: Independent Study
Creative projects, including research and design, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses. Students will likely work directly with a faculty member on a topic and will need explicit approval.

Graduate Courses

LING 500: Syntax II
The focus in this course is on phrase structure, movement, functional categories, features, the nature of economic conditions, and parametric differences among languages. More general issues of the architecture of the grammar and the nature of crosslinguistic variation.

LING 502: Historical Linguistics
Topics in the theory of language change. A topics-based course which investigates in-depth such areas as grammaticalization, typological influences on language change, language classification, and others.

LING 504: Phonology II
Issues in phonological theory. Current controversies and trends of research in phonology, including the phonology-morphology interface and rule-based vs. constraint-based approaches.

LING 520: Seminar in Psycholinguistics
Consideration of theoretical and research issues relevant to psychological aspects of language sounds, syntax and semantics, and other cognitive support.

LING 521: Proseminar in the Language Science of Bilingualism
This course provides a cross-disciplinary overview of language science approaches to bilingualism and second language learning.

LING 522: Proseminar in Professional Issues in Language Science
This course addresses issues of professional development in the language sciences with special attention to cross-disciplinary research.

LING 525: Experimental Research Methods in Psycholinguistics
This course provides an overview of experimental research techniques used in language science.

LING 545: Morphology
This course investigates the world’s languages from the perspective of the strategies they use in the formation of words. Has the practical goal of learning how to segment words into meaningful parts, but proceeds to a consideration of typology, and grammaticalization.

LING 548: Sociolinguistics
The general theme in this course is the nature of spoken style and register choice. New kinds of variables that play a role in style, the structure of style, and the role of style in the construction of meaning in variation. Strengths and weaknesses of the principal methods of data collection in sociolinguistics. Project-based.

LING 570: The History of Modern Linguistics
A survey of trends and developments in the history of modern linguistics. The course begins with a review of American structuralism and the transition to transformational grammar in the 1950’s. Investigates modern theoretical developments, including Chomskyan and non-Chomskyan theoretical models.

LING 596: Individual Studies
Creative projects which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.

LING 597: Special Topics
Formal courses given infrequently to explore, in depth, a comparatively narrow subject which may be topical or of special interest.

QUESTIONS? PLEASE CONTACT:

Director, Linguistics Program
(814) 263-2138
Undergraduate Officer, Associate Teaching Professor of Linguistics and African Studies
(814) 865-4252